Boomerite supplies ordered

I have a pounding headache and a stuffed up nose but I managed to order 392 pounds of potassium chlorate this morning. Potassium chlorate is one of the main ingredients in Boomerite. It’s also the most expensive (in the past it has accounted for almost 65% of the cost) and it’s hard to find suppliers who can deliver it in the quantities we need.


Last Thursday I started the process of ordering and ran into some obstacles.


First, they wanted a copy of my ATF type 20 license to manufacture high explosives. The one they had on file had expired. I had expected that and wasn’t concerned.


Second, I estimate we have about 100 pounds left over from last year and we need about 350 pounds for Boomershoot 2009. I wanted to order the usual 275 pound drum which would have given me a little bit left over for testing and other things during the year. But my supplier told me they only had 142 pounds on hand. Larger quantities will be available in two to three weeks. Also they changed their packaging and they now only sell in 250 pound increments. And the worst part was the price has doubled since last year. Ouch!


But, if I ordered just the 250 pounds then, at best, I wouldn’t have any extra for testing purposes during the year. 500 pounds would be more than enough for Boomershoot 2009 but the expense!


I told them I would think about what I wanted to do, FAX them a copy of the license on Friday, and call them back on Monday (today). Over the weekend it occurred to me–they have 142 pound on hand why not buy that plus a 250 pound package? I called today and they said it works for them so it should be just fine. I’m not looking forward to paying the steep price but getting 392 pounds is better than not having enough with 250 pounds and better than paying for 500 pounds of which half will sit around for year.


The cardboard boxes used for the target containers have arrived and are safely stored away. There are just a very few minor supplies that need to be picked up locally now.

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2 thoughts on “Boomerite supplies ordered

  1. I googled it a bit, and the only think I could find about pricing spikes happened in another country, and 10 years ago. That involved storage requirements.

    I assume this stuff is produced in China, though I’m not able to turn up commodity historical pricing graphs to get a look-see. I suppose you could move Boomershoot 2010 to Hunan to keep costs down. 🙂

  2. *sigh*

    Maybe two years from now. Maybe. Assuming ammunition/hardware prices come down in the intervening period…

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